Today in History — May 19

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Today is Saturday, May 19, the 139th day of 2007. There are 226 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 19, 1962, during a Democratic fund-raiser at New York’s Madison Square Garden, actress Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” for guest-of-honor President John F. Kennedy.

On this date:

In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.

In 1643, delegates from four New England colonies met in Boston to form a confederation.

In 1935, T.E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” died in Dorset, England, from injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash.

In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown” for having its title character decide to bear a child out of wedlock.

In 1994, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.

Ten years ago: (note contents) NBC sportscaster Marv Albert was charged in an indictment with biting a woman in an Arlington, Va., hotel room as many as 15 times and forcing her to perform oral sex. (Albert denied the charges, but at trial, ended up pleading guilty to assault and battery; he served no jail time.)

Five years ago: Boston Cardinal Bernard Law said in a letter distributed to parishes that he did not become aware until 1993 of sexual abuse allegations against the Rev. Paul Shanley. Walter Lord, author of “A Night To Remember,” a minute-by-minute retelling of the Titanic disaster, died in New York at age 84.

One year ago: A key U.N. panel joined European and United Nations leaders in urging the Bush administration to close its prison in Guantanamo Bay, saying the indefinite detention of terror suspects there violated the world’s ban on torture. The report by the Committee Against Torture came as the U.S. military disclosed that prisoners wielding improvised weapons had clashed with guards trying to save a detainee who was pretending to commit suicide. Freddie Garrity, lead singer of the 1960s British pop band Freddie and the Dreamers, died in Wales at age 69.